Ukraine on Thursday marked Europe Day amid an unannounced visit by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to the country's capital Kyiv.
Exactly a year ago, Ukraine declared May 9 as Europe Day through a presidential decree signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said he signed the relevant decree to commemorate "the unity of all Europeans" who won against Nazism.
"Our Europe is a voluntary union of nations, communities, and millions of people of very different backgrounds, a union of values. And this is the real European strength," Zelenskyy said in a message on X.
Expressing that they must continue to enhance this strength by protecting life and common values on our continent, he said they must do everything they can to ensure that their children inherit a "peaceful, united Europe."
In a post on X, the Ukrainian president said: "Now, seventy-nine years after Nazism was defeated, our Europe has, unfortunately, once again become a battlefield where the fate of not only our Ukrainian nation, but many other nations, is being decided."
He further said that "life must prevail over Russian air bombs, missiles, assaults, and hatred, which disrupt the lives of millions of Ukrainians while seeing the lives of millions more Europeans as a target."
"It is vital that we are not alone in this battle, and that we have the solidarity of many free nations and brave and principled people," he added.
For her part, Metsola said on X: "Courage, strength, resolve. With President (Zelenskyy) in Kyiv. Slava Ukraini!"
